This document discusses server virtualization and cloud computing. It defines key concepts like virtualization, hypervisors, and cloud types. The benefits of virtualization include reduced hardware costs and increased flexibility. When using virtualization for databases, performance must be monitored and optimized. Cloud computing provides on-demand resources at lower costs but requires careful review of security and licensing. Major cloud database providers like Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and hosted Oracle options are overviewed.

1. Server Virtualization and Cloud ComputingJoseph D’AntoniSynthesVirginia Oracle Users Group14 October 2010

2. DBA with 10+ years of experience

3. Primarily in health care

4. I like to talk about and use new technologies

5. @jdanton on TwitterAbout Me

6. How these two topics ties together

7. Server Virtualization

8. Cloud Computing

9. Options for Cloud Database computingOverview

10. Virtualization Agenda Definition of Server VirtualizationDo’s and Don’ts with VMs

11. Major VM Vendors

12. Gartner on Virtualization

13. DefinitionsHostHypervisorGuestGuestGuest

14. Benefits of VirtualizationReduced physical footprint Reduced power and coolingIncreased Hardware utilizationCan be used for HA configurationsRapid Deployment of new environmentsUse Gold Standard servers and rollout

15. High AvailabilityCan move virtual servers between virtual hosts, across sites if needed, with minimal downtimeCan snapshot server before patches or application upgradesSnapshots are good, but can take a lot of storage

16. VMWare Architecture

17. DR Scenario with ESX

18. Typical Host Server(s)2 Quad Core 2.8 Ghz Processors60 Gb Memory1 Tb SAN Storage

19. CPU SchedulingHost ServerCPU 1CPU 2GuestGuestGuestGuestGuest

20. Thin ProvisioningAllows over allocation of resourcesIncreases storage provisioningManagement console allows for easy management of this along with SAN.

21. Maintaining PerformanceNever over allocate CPUsMemory can be over allocated Hypervisor handles it by DE duplicating memory. Host Page Files

22. I/O PerformanceIO is nearly always the limiting factor to DB performanceCan be extremely tricky to track down in a VM environmentWork with storage and VM teams to monitor at each level.

23. Limitations of Virtualization Not ideal for high utilization database serversI/O contention (VMs like fast disks)Licensing costs (mainly Oracle, but Microsoft is changing their licensing model for SQL 2008 R2)VMWare isn’t free either—management server and license for each VM CPU.

24. Oracle Licensing on VMWareEleven syndicates campaigned this year in the three-month Louis Vuitton Cup series for the right to challenge Alinghi, the 2003 America's Cup winner. Cannon estimates the combined cost of the fleet at about $1 billion, with high-rollers like Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle Racing team spending upward of $130 million before being eliminated in the semifinals.

25. LicensingAs a result, soft partitioning is not permitted as a means to determine or limit the number of software licenses required for any given server.Examples of such partitioning type include…Oracle VM, VMWare.Source: Oracle Partitioning GuideJuly 13, 2010

26. Licensing Oracle’s official position is that all physical CPUs accessible to the guest OS must be licensed…but YMMVVMWare is licensed at the host level, with several cost options

27. Oracle Support PositionOracle has not certified any of its products on VMware virtualized environments.Oracle Support will assist customers running Oracle products on VMware in the following manner: Oracle will only provide support for issues that either are known to occur on the native OS, or can be demonstrated not to be as a result of running on VMware. If a problem is a known Oracle issue, Oracle support will recommend the appropriate solution on the native OS. If that solution does not work in the VMware virtualized environment, the customer will be referred to VMware for support. Metalink [ID 249212.1]

28. Why these two topics?Server virtualization is the engine that drives cloud computingAllows dynamic resource allocation

29. Cloud Overview

30. Types of Cloud ComputingThree majors types of cloud computingSoftware as a service (SAAS) – Salesforce.com, GmailPlatform as a service (PAAS) – SQL Azure, Amazon EC2 Infrastructure as a service – Hosted ServersPrivate Clouds – Exadata, ExalogicGiven our audience we will focus on the PAAS part of this.

31. Cloud Database Providers

32. Microsoft’s SQL Specific Platform Offering

33. Limited Selection of SQL Server Features

34. 50 Gb size limit for an individual database